The chairman of the Knesset House Committee, Yoav Kish, aims to get new ethics rules approved that would forbid groups that call for a boycott of Israel or the settlements from financing MKs trips abroad.

MK Kish (Likud) plans to submit his proposal on Wednesday, basing it on the list of organizations drawn up by the Strategic Affairs Ministry to prevent boycott, divestment and sanctions activists from entering Israel. Kish said that as far as he could tell, at least one of those groups, American Muslims for Palestine, had funded a trip for MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint List).

Last week the Strategic Affairs Ministry published its list as it prepares to implement the law that forbids major activists of these groups from entering Israel. The list comprises mainly European and American organizations, an organization from Latin America, one from South Africa and the BDS National Committee, a coordinating body. The only exclusively Jewish organization on the list is the Jewish Voice for Peace.

I tried to advance a similar measure in the past, but there was a dispute over who would determine the list of organizations and who would decide which group couldnt legitimately fund trips for MKs, Kish said. Now, after the Strategic Affairs Ministry has published a list of boycott organizations, I decided to use it.

The Knesset legal advisory team is examining the legal feasibility of Kishs move and will provide its opinion in time for the next committee hearing.

Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter

Email*

Please enter a valid email address

Please wait…

Thank you for signing up.

Oops. Something went wrong.

Thank you,

Tibi protested the new initiative. This is a transparent and arbitrary attempt to undermine MKs immunity and their freedom of movement. Boycotting the settlements is legitimate, as is everything happening with boycotting the occupation, he said.

We will continue to attend conferences of our choice, and I hope that the ethics committee wont turn into a government tool to restrict the opposition, including the Arab MKs . This flood of fascist legislation is the height of McCarthyism.

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.